2419 - Unknown Union Sailor
Dead Letter Office Photo Number 2419
Photo by Pennington, 6 Chatham Street, N.Y. Circa 1863.
During the Civil War the U.S. Postal Service handled millions of pieces of mail, all by hand. Families were torn apart by the war, and letters provided a means to keep in touch with loved ones far away. Envelopes carried the latest news from home or the battlefield, messages of love and longing, and sometimes a small paper image of the sender. For the most part the Post Office delivered the mail with surprising efficiency, even those letters heading to and from soldiers at the front. Yet, with all the mail being handled, it is not surprising that thousands of undeliverable items ended up at the Dead Letter Office. Addresses might be wrong or illegible, the addressee may have moved without a forwarding address, or the recipient may have died or otherwise failed to pick up their mail. The Post Office made great efforts to return dead letters to their intended recipients or senders. But this was not always possible. When a dead letter contained a soldier’s photograph, the Post Office posted the photograph on a display board so that the public could aid in identifying the person pictured. Photos were cataloged and individually numbered in red ink and affixed with brass mounting clips, top and bottom, onto large pasteboards mounted in the Post Office. Each board contained a grid of 36 photographs. Today these old Dead Letter Office photos can be recognized by the red catalog numbers in the lower left and the holes made by the brass clips. Frequently they exhibit scrapes and scuff marks caused by the backs of other clips when two or more pasteboard panels were stacked together.
2419 - Unknown Union Sailor
Dead Letter Office Photo Number 2419
Photo by Pennington, 6 Chatham Street, N.Y. Circa 1863.
During the Civil War the U.S. Postal Service handled millions of pieces of mail, all by hand. Families were torn apart by the war, and letters provided a means to keep in touch with loved ones far away. Envelopes carried the latest news from home or the battlefield, messages of love and longing, and sometimes a small paper image of the sender. For the most part the Post Office delivered the mail with surprising efficiency, even those letters heading to and from soldiers at the front. Yet, with all the mail being handled, it is not surprising that thousands of undeliverable items ended up at the Dead Letter Office. Addresses might be wrong or illegible, the addressee may have moved without a forwarding address, or the recipient may have died or otherwise failed to pick up their mail. The Post Office made great efforts to return dead letters to their intended recipients or senders. But this was not always possible. When a dead letter contained a soldier’s photograph, the Post Office posted the photograph on a display board so that the public could aid in identifying the person pictured. Photos were cataloged and individually numbered in red ink and affixed with brass mounting clips, top and bottom, onto large pasteboards mounted in the Post Office. Each board contained a grid of 36 photographs. Today these old Dead Letter Office photos can be recognized by the red catalog numbers in the lower left and the holes made by the brass clips. Frequently they exhibit scrapes and scuff marks caused by the backs of other clips when two or more pasteboard panels were stacked together.